Why Every Top Recruiter Should Double as a Master Marketer on LinkedIn

Ross Carvalho

In order to attract and engage top talent, recruiters nowadays need to move away from the classically reactive and transactional ‘get me a hire’ routine and start thinking more strategically and proactively about how to build up their company’s brand. Or in short – recruiters need to become part-time marketers.

The questions that every marketer tackles daily and every recruiter must learn to pay attention to are:
- do your target audience know your brand?
- can your target audience find you easily?
- are you appearing in the places where your target audience go to regularly?
- once they find you, are you providing the right/helpful messaging?
- are you following up and staying top of mind?

Think about it the next time you go into a supermarket: how many times have you seen ads for that new favourite chocolate bar of yours? Probably the first time was on TV, then on the train or bus during your commute, then in the paper. Finally, as you entered the supermarket that final point of sale ad tipped the scales and you bought the chocolate bar.

1. Have a consistent brand presence

Pretty much like the chocolate bar, every recruitment team must have a consistent brand message – one of quality and ability to add value. This will help you build up a strong employer brand and attract good hires more easily.

Here are the steps you need to take to formulate your brand presence:
a. Establish what is the message you want to convey to potential candidates? Do you have any standout points that make working for your company unique? For this you can work with your HR team (employee survey results) and your marketing team (brand positioning).

b. Then you can start to think about where to put that message. This begins with telling the story through traditional channels such as your company’s careers website and following up by sharing your brand message on social media. A great place to start is your company’s Career Page on LinkedIn and your employee’s profiles.  Your employees can help by spreading your brand message in their profiles’ summary and work experience sections.

2. Advertise your jobs

It’s crucial to advertise your brand in the right places – where your target audience will be able to find you easily and where they are going regularly.

So where are these places?

About 20% of all candidates are active and you can target this audience through LinkedIn job postings or niche job boards. These candidates tend to be more proactive so are likely to seek as much information as they can get. As such, having a greater inventory of opportunities in these channels is important.


The other 80% of candidates are passive and you have a few tools at your disposal on LinkedIn to reach them:  - Read the rest of the LinkedIn Talent Blog post for more...